Chapter 1. pUrpOSe aND INtrODUCtION

The Comprehensive Plan is a statement of what the community of Woodbury wants to become. It is a set of goals and policies designed to achieve a community wide vision that is based upon a series of community-defined guiding principles.

CHAPTER CONTENTComprehensive Plan Overview 2Purpose 2Required Plan Elements 32000 Update 52030 Comprehensive Plan 52040 Comprehensive Plan 6

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COMPREHENSIVE PLAN OVERVIEW The Plan is based on a composition of concepts, patterns and relationships that deal with integrating the social aspects of a community with its physical development. Unlike the zoning ordinance, the Comprehensive Plan is futuristic in that it guides decisions that have yet to be made. The word “comprehensive” in itself provides meaning to the plan: it deals with the whole community and not just the parts.

The Comprehensive Plan consists of the following thirteen chapters:

1. Introduction and Purpose

2. Community Context

3. Vision and Guiding Principles

4. Land Use

5. Housing

6. Economic Development

7. Transportation

8. Parks, Trails and Open Space

9. Natural Resource Management

10. Sanitary Sewer

11. Water Supply

12. Surface Water Management

13. Implementation

PURPOSE The Woodbury 2040 Comprehensive Plan was prepared in accordance with the Metropolitan Land Planning Act (Minn. Stat. § 473.851-473.871) and the policies of the Metropolitan Council. The Comprehensive Plan conforms to the Metropolitan Council’s system statement for Woodbury dated September 17, 2015.

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REQUIRED PLAN ELEMENTSThe Metropolitan Council has eight required plan elements that a comprehensive plan must address: land use, transportation, water resources, parks and trails, housing, resilience, economic competitiveness and implementation. A thirteen-page checklist of minimum requirements was created by the Metropolitan Council that is specific to Woodbury. This checklist was used as the main set of guidelines to ensure that the required content was included in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. Below are the Metropolitan Council descriptions of the role and importance of each plan element:

Land Use: To maximize returns on the regional investment in sewer, water, roads, parks, and other infrastructure, communities need to consider how land will be used. Existing and future uses translate a community’s forecasted growth into where, when, and how much development occurs in the community. It is this effort that enables effective planning for infrastructure. Other considerations include housing needs, employment patterns, recreational space, and commercial activities. The goal is to create livable neighborhoods, easy access to jobs, connected street patterns, and to protect our natural resources.

Transportation: The Metropolitan Council’s 2040 Transportation Policy Plan outlines the plans for regional facilities including principal arterial highways, metropolitan transit services and facilities, and the region’s aviation facilities that communities should reflect in updating local comprehensive plans. It includes chapters on the characteristics of the existing transportation system; goals, objectives and strategies; transportation finance and the plans and policy direction for each mode.

Water Resources: The prosperity, quality of life, and continued development of our region all depend on the sustainability of the quality and quantity of our region’s water resources. Our water resources, from our aquifers to our surface waters, are the foundation for growth and vitality in the region. We need to manage our use of our aquifers for water supply, our surface waters for their ecological and development functions, and our land use patterns for their potential impacts on these resources. Along with policies and strategies on water supply, wastewater, and surface water detailed in the 2040 Water Resources Policy Plan, communities will need to develop comprehensive plan components to address local issues related to water supply, wastewater, and surface water.

Parks and Trails: Parks and open space are key contributors to the region’s livability, sustainability, and quality of life. Parks and open space strengthen residents’ physical, psychological, and social wellbeing by providing opportunities for recreation, stress reduction, and social interaction. Natural areas provide environmental benefits by preserving natural resources, reducing air pollution, and managing stormwater runoff.

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Housing: Diverse housing options allow people in all life stages and of all economic means access to safe, stable and affordable homes. Housing choices allow people and families to find housing affordable to them in the communities in which they want to live. A full range of housing types can help increase resiliency as local governments experience changing demographics and economic conditions. Housing elements are an opportunity to state a local government’s specific policy priorities around housing choice within their community.

Resilience: Resiliency is having the capacity to respond, adapt, and thrive under changing conditions. Consideration of vulnerabilities - and responses to those vulnerabilities - will strengthen your community’s ability to prepare for and respond to climate impacts. Resiliency includes planning for more severe weather and prolonged heatwaves, for improved health of residents, and planning for economic strength and diversity.

Economic Competitiveness: Economic competitiveness in the context of comprehensive planning refers to examining and strengthening the ability of the region to compete effectively and prosper in the global economy. Economic development typically refers to activities that directly aim to retain, attract, and grow businesses that bring prosperity into a community or region.

MN STATUTEMinn. Stat. § 473.865 ADOPTION; CONFLICTS, AMENDMENT OF CONTROLS, DEVICES.

Subdivision 1. Control copies to council.

each local governmental unit shall adopt official controls as described in its adopted comprehensive plan and shall submit copies of the official controls to the council within 30 days following adoption thereof, for information purposes only.

Subdivision 2. No conflict with plans.

a local governmental unit shall not adopt any official control or fiscal device which is in conflict with its comprehensive plan or which permits activity in conflict with metropolitan system plans.

Subdivision 3. Amendments.

If an official control conflicts with a comprehensive plan as the result of an amendment to the plan, the official control shall be amended by the unit within nine months following the amendment to the plan so as to not conflict with the amended comprehensive plan.

Implementation: Most components of a comprehensive plan identify what a community intends to do over the next twenty-plus years. The implementation portion of a comprehensive plan lays out how a community intends to do it and when infrastructure investments will occur. The implementation plan needs to describe the local ordinances, policies, public programs, and capital improvement plans for local systems that ensure implementation of a comprehensive plan and protection of public infrastructure. Official controls are locally adopted ordinances, policies, design guidelines, fiscal tools, and other regulations that direct, guide, and assist in development decisions in a community and help to implement a plan. Official controls may also need to be updated to remove conflict with new policy direction as outlined in Minn. Stat. § 473.865.

The City of Woodbury concurs generally with the Metropolitan Council’s definitions as listed above. For purposes of structure, the City of Woodbury’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan will include a chapter entitled “Economic Development” as opposed to “Economic Competitiveness”. Language regarding the resilience plan element will be seen in a variety of chapters with an emphasis in the Natural Resources Management chapter as opposed to being found in a standalone chapter. Lastly, each chapter will include implementation language in addition to the final chapter that will discuss city-wide implementation steps.

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2030 Comprehensive PlanJuly 2010

2030 Comprehensive Plan Document

2020 Comprehensive Plan Document

PREVIOUS PLANNINGThe 2040 Comprehensive Plan is part of an ongoing process of community planning in Woodbury. Woodbury’s first comprehensive plan was enacted in 1971. In 1980, the City of Woodbury complied with the 1976 Metropolitan Land Planning Act by preparing a comprehensive plan and submitting it to the Metropolitan Council for review and approval. This plan was used to guide local decisions for almost twenty years. It served as a foundation for local zoning controls. To address local development pressures and to ensure an adequate supply of land within the Metropolitan Urban Services Area (MUSA), the plan was amended several times.

2000 UPDATEIn 1996, the City initiated an extensive process of updating the Comprehensive Plan. The City Council appointed the Land Use Committee (LUC) to serve as the steering committee for the planning process. The LUC included representation from the City Council, Planning Commission, Park and Recreation Commission and citizens at large.

After several months of deliberation, gathering of public input and refinement of the Comprehensive Plan, the LUC reached consensus and the Plan was moved forward for review and consideration by the City Council and review by the Metropolitan Council. The 2020 Comprehensive Plan was adopted by the City Council on May 10, 2000.

2030 COMPREHENSIVE PLANThe 2030 Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 2010 following an extensive update process guided by a 15-member City Council-appointed task force. Many of the technical updates to the 2030 plan remain in place in this 2040 Comprehensive Plan.

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RESIDENT TASK FORCE MEMBERS

Jennifer Santini, Chair

Roger Splinter, Vice-Chair

Anne Burt

James Currell

Andrea Date

Jim Edberg*

Dave Filipiak**

Mary Giuliani Stephens

Roger Green

Dana Millington*

Don Place

Paul Rebholz

Al Rudnickas*

Tim Swanson*

Jimmy Wong

* Member served a partial term **Member was appointed mid-way through the planning process

2040 COMPREHENSIVE PLANThe 2040 Comprehensive Plan is driven by the statutory requirements of the Metropolitan Land Planning Act. The Act requires the City to update the Comprehensive Plan to bring it into conformance with regional plans within three years of receiving its system statement.

The City Council appointed a resident task force to serve as the steering committee for the planning process. The kick-off meeting of the Comprehensive Plan Task Force was May 12, 2016. Beginning in the summer of 2016, the Task Force met monthly to guide staff and consultants on drafting updated chapters of the Comprehensive Plan. Staff spent the summer of 2016 reaching out to a wide variety of community groups to discuss modifications to the Comprehensive Plan’s guiding principles. On April 1, 2017, the City presented a draft future land use map at the Woodbury Community Expo. Following the 2017 Community Expo, the Task Force continued to review the various plan elements of the Comprehensive Plan leading up to a City Council review of the document on July 25, 2018. Following this preliminary approval of the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, the document was submitted to surrounding cities, schools districts, watershed districts, the DNR and MNDoT for a six-month comment period.

The City’s standing commissions and committees also provided valuable input on the elements of the Comprehensive Plan relevant to their mission. The Economic Development Commission, Parks and Natural Resources Commission and Planning Commission reviewed portions of the plan during the planning process.

Throughout the planning process, the City emphasized community engagement. All task force meetings were publicized using the InTouch e-mail delivery system and meeting information was posted on a dedicated comprehensive plan update page of the City’s website. Early in the process, surveys were sent to affected landowners in the community and community development staff coordinated a wide variety of meetings with local businesses, schools, faith groups, civic groups and more.

The City also used traditional print media to communicate information about the planning process. The Comprehensive Plan was featured in several issues of the City’s newsletter.

Woodbury’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan was approved on January 14, 2019 by the Planning Commission. On July 24, 2019, the Metropolitan Council found the Plan to be in conformance with metropolitan system plans and consistent with Metropolitan Council policy. Woodbury’s City Council formally adopted the 2040 Comprehensive Plan on August 14, 2019.